1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical apparatus such as a camera, which comprises a finder for observing an object, and a visual axis detector for detecting the position of the visual axis of an observer who looks into the field of view of the finder.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, various visual axis detection devices for detecting an observation position by an observer, in the field of view, have been proposed.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1-274736 proposes a device, which detects a rotational angle of an eyeball of a photographer by illuminating the eyeball with light emitted from, e.g., an infrared light-emitting diode, guiding the light reflected by an eyeball to an image sensor such as a CCD to form an eyeball image on the sensor, and detecting the shift amount of a cornea reflected image obtained upon reflection on the surface of the cornea relative to the center of the image of the pupil on the basis of the eyeball image.
Also, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-87818 proposes a device for allowing selection of a control function of a camera on the basis of the visual axis position of an observer.